Save and Earn: How 5 Big Brands Become Digital?

On the lookout for ways to remain competitive, the companies are turning to digital transformation. While we can give promises that digital initiatives will improve the operational efficiency and drive growth, it’s always better to look at real-world success stories for some inspiration.

So here are some examples of how giant companies have enhanced their profit rates by implementation of digital solutions into business processes. Perhaps, you will potentially get some sort of idea of how you can modify your business in order to both increase profits and save.

1. Volkswagen and its car-sharing system

The company has already launched “WeShare” — a new car-sharing system, in Berlin in the middle of 2019. WeShare is a “free-floating” system without rental stations and is operated digitally via an app.

The number of car sharing users in Germany has risen 14-fold since 2010. VW has stated that it expects to make around $1.1 billion in sales by 2025 from new digital services, such as car-sharing, parking, and parcel delivery services.

2. Domino’s Pizza Bot

Thanks to “Dom the Pizza bot”, customers can now order from whatever channel they choose (the App itself, Facebook Messenger, the Company’s mobile app, on Twitter with the use of emojis, Google Assistant & Alexa, Smart TVs). These practices help to make the user experience more fun and less frictionless.

Domino’s Pizza generated a revenue of 3.62 billion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2019. This figure has steadily increased over the past nine years — from 2017 to 2018 Domino’s revenue grew by over half a billion U.S. dollars. 

3. Walgreens and a mobile-first mentality

Walgreens has adopted a mobile-first mentality that also drives in-store traffic and helps to build customer loyalty. In Walgreens app, the users can refill prescriptions by scanning the barcode. A function that appears to be very well received by the customers. In the first quarter of 2018, 20 percent of refill script requests were done digitally. The users can also use the app to organize a video chat with an online doctor or set pill reminders to manage medications on their Apple watches and can also earn and redeem loyalty points via Apple Pay. Walgreens’ total revenue grew from $103 billion in fiscal 2015 to $137 billion in fiscal 2019. 

4. Adobe’s record of  $11.17 billion

When Adobe decided to make the transition to a cloud-based model, it knew it needed to shift its employees’ focus towards the needs of the customer. To achieve this, it created a staff Experience-a-thon, where employees could test and provide feedback on Adobe products as if they were users. These actions led to improvement of Adobe’s product quality, which in its turn increased both the sales and good reviews.

In its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019, Adobe achieved record quarterly revenue of $2.99 billion, which represents 21 percent year-over-year growth. In fiscal year 2019, Adobe achieved record annual revenue of $11.17 billion, which represents 24 percent year-over-year growth. 

5. Best Buy becomes fully digital

Best Buy was in the midst of a crisis in 2012 and some thought it would die soon. So, it transitioned from predominantly mail marketing to an almost entirely digital strategy. It uses data to create customer profiles to provide customized recommendations and assistance.

Best Buy started 2012 with a stock price of $23.70. As of July 2019, it sold for around $74. Early growth was rather slow, but prices have been steadily increasing over the last three years. Revenue has increased steadily in the last three years, jumping from around $40 billion late 2017 to its current $43 billion.

Digital is Now!

Technology today is no longer seen as a helper of everyday business practices. It has now become the heart and soul, the only help and the center of every business strategy.  The digital revolution is powered by technology — the internet, mobile technology, computer processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, nanotechnology, robotics and information processors are all tools that we can use to perform tasks in various ways. If you do not embrace the digital, you do not offer it, you will be dead.    

A commitment to digital transformation and the resources to back it up can turn lagging stocks into industry leaders. Although there are risks involved, the companies mentioned above show that finding digital solutions and processes can lead to long-term financial gains. 

And does your business have its own story of successful digitalization?